


The Predator

by Vinnocent



Series: Morphing Human [3]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, Being Human (UK), Being Human (US/Canada)
Genre: Abandonment, Adolescent Sexuality, Blood and Gore, Book 5: The Predator, Casual Ableism, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Masochism, Self-Harm, Self-Sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-06
Updated: 2014-03-07
Packaged: 2018-01-14 18:57:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 15,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1277317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinnocent/pseuds/Vinnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on book 5 of the Animorphs series, The Predator, after trying to get Ax home, Ax, Cassie, and Marco are trapped aboard the Yeerk Mothership with a new enemy. We learn more about Marco's past, and Ax struggles with the abilities of human morph and the impossibilities that abound on earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Plan to Run (Marco)

My name is Marco. Just Marco. I won't tell you more than that. I know that sounds a bit paranoid, but I live in a paranoid world. Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean I don't have enemies.

My enemies are real. My enemies make slaves of humanity. And then once they've done that? They'll have their pick of vampires and werewolves to use as mere tools. And if those weren't bad enough, there's the Hork-Bajir and Taxxons, too. A walking knife set and a walking mouth.

I know you think I'm making this shit up, but I'm not. This is my life now. Monsters and aliens and blood and death.

I'm still waiting to wake up. To find out that it's all over. That I can be normal again. That my dad will be safe.

* * *

"Cassie? Are you going to tell me why we're all out walking in the fields together?" I glanced up. "Aside from the fact that it's a nice day and all?"

"Um, well, I've been talking to Ax the past couple days. And, well, there's something I think he should say to all of us."

Jake and Rachel exchanged glances. "That's not remotely suspicious," Jake said.

I didn't want to admit that I'd been thinking the same thing. Jake and I haven't been exactly cozy since everyone but Tobias told him they trusted me with leadership more than the boy who, according to Rachel, might just be willing to throw us under a bus at any moment. I mean, you hear that about your best friend, you hear him not exactly deny it, and things get kinda frosty.

Like he even has a right to frost back at me after his awesome decision making skills got me turned into a goddamn werewolf? A monster that's a risk to everyone around me on a regular basis?

Yeah, I might be mad still.

"I said I'm not interested in any more missions," I grumbled.

"Great job listening to the whole team," Tobias sulked from a nearby tree. He kept flitting around instead of properly joining the group. Tobias liked Jake better than everyone else, so he, also, was frosty about the way things turned out. To him, Jake could do no wrong. Besides, I guess the suggestion of being priority two in a deadly war doesn't hurt so much when you're already dead. When you'll never have to worry about being controlled.

Some people luck out.

"It's not about that," Cassie assured us. She started walking faster. "Probably."

"Then what is it probably about?" I asked. When Jake and Rachel easily adjusted for her attempt at escape, I was forced to scramble after them.

Cassie sighed. "Ax… Ax wants to go home."

"Home?" Tobias repeated.

"To the Andalite home world."

Jake grabbed her wrist so she'd stop speed-walking. "Isn't that…?"

"Really, _really_ far away?" I completed.

Cassie nodded, staring at the grass. "Ax says it's about eighty-two light years."

"Light travels about one hundred and eighty-six thousand miles per second. Times sixty seconds per minute. Times sixty minutes per hour. Times twenty-four hours per day. Times three hundred and sixty-five point twenty-five days per year," Rachel rattled off. "That's one light year. Times eighty- two years. That's the distance of the Andalite planet. If I had paper, I could give you the actual number."

"How do you know that?" I asked, pretending I hadn't been recalling the same thing.

"I've had a lot of high school," she said with a wink. "Wanna know what it is in kilometers?"

"Our calculators don't go that high," I said.

"Ha!" she cried victoriously. "You _have_ been paying attention!"

I rolled my eyes and changed the subject back. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Cassie, but I don't think any of the major airlines fly to the Andalite home world."

<That is why we have to steal a Yeerk spaceship.>

And there he was ahead of us. Blue deer centaur alien thing. An Andalite. Aximili-Esgarouth-Isthill, to be specific. We call him Ax.

I felt ill. "That sounds a lot like a mission."

"So I guess we'll just keep Ax trapped here forever against his will," Tobias snarled.

I sighed. "You say that like we're not all definitely going to die."

Ax smiled at me with his eyes. <You think it will be dangerous, Prince Marco?>

"Dangerous? No, jumping off a ten-story building is dangerous. Sticking your tongue in an electrical socket is dangerous, not to mention painful. But stealing a Yeerk ship is _beyond_ dangerous."

<The higher the danger, the higher the honor,> Ax said. <Is this not true?>

I gave Rachel a sidelong look. "I think we've found your future husband."

"I'm with Prince Marco on this," said Jake, and I made a face at him. "Trying to get a Yeerk ship might be honorable, but honor isn't really our goal here."

The Andalite's main eyes widened, and his stalk eyes stretch upward. It seemed like it might have been an expression of surprise. He looked back and forth between us. <What else do you fight for, if not honor?>

"Living to get our driver's licenses?" I suggested. When Rachel and Tobias glared at me, I amended, "The two of us who are alive."

"We want to stop the Yeerks," Cassie tried. "We really do. But no one else on his planet, Controllers aside, even knows there _is_ a Yeerk invasion. So if something happens to us…"

I didn't know how to measure his expression. <l did not mean to offend,> Ax said. <You are right, of course. You are alone. If you fail, all is lost.>

Rachel clapped her hands together. "So the question is how do we do this without killing Mr. and Mrs. Delicate?"

"Yeah, that's definitely the question," I snarled. "And as your prince, I say you're not allowed to use those nicknames anymore."

"Marco, it isn't helpful to call yourself that," said Cassie.

I shrugged. "Fine."

Jake turned and gave me a look. I didn't really understand what his point was.

"Look, we're mostly against the idea of getting deader than our current various stages of deadness," I told Ax. "So tell me how we're supposed to grab a Yeerk ship? They're up in orbit. We're down here. It's not like we can call them up and ask them to come down."

<Yes, we can do that,> Ax said. <I can create a Yeerk distress beacon. They will send a ship to investigate.>

"You mean like, 'Hello? Hello? Is this Visser Three? Could you send a ship down to pick me up?'" I demanded.

<Yes.>

My mouth was open. "That was a joke."

<I apologize. I am unfamiliar with earth humor.>

"It's everyone's humor," I countered instinctively. "Usually. I think."

"Is Visser Three still alive?" asked Rachel. "As I recall, Jake explosively harpooned him."

"You know how Cassie and Marco are totally uninjured when they demorph?" Tobias asked, the same time that Ax said, <It is not necessary to contact a specific Visser.>

"Hold up, one person at a time," Jake complained, putting a hand up.

Ax looked severely annoyed. <There is only one person speaking, Jake.>

"I meant you and Tobias. Who… you still can't see or hear. But we can. Well, most of us."

Ax stamped a foot. <I cannot be expected to-->

"Yeah, yeah, we know. Invisible people aren't real. You got a shit deal with us. Man, things suck for you. How many Yeerks are on your home planet, by the way?" I asked. When an eye turned toward me, I took that as a sign of his attention and continued. "For those of us hearing him right now, it sounded like he also has something important to share that we might wanna know before we make plans, so I really don't care how stupid we look, you can sit pretty while we listen anyway."

Cassie shot Ax a worried look, but Tobias continued. "Anyway, Jake got him in the back end. It might have eventually killed the creature if the creature wasn't Visser Three in morph. He changed back. He lost us, but he's unharmed." He glanced at Jake. "I think he's considering us a more serious threat now though. And the word is that there are Andalite survivors with human and/or supernatural allies. We need to be really careful about not revealing ourselves."

"So basically, what I've been telling you three all along," I said. Jake, Rachel, and Tobias shot me glares, but I turned to Ax. "Ghostie says that Visser Three is whole and well. So let's hear your stu--"

" _Marco_ ," Cassie chastised me sharply.

"Your plan which I'm sure is wonderfully thought out and maybe even flawless."

Ax ground a hoof against the grass. <lt will not involve that… that foul beast,> he assured us. <lt will be a minor matter. They will hear a distress beacon and send a Bug fighter to investigate.>

"There is always at least one Hork-Bajir and one Taxxon aboard each Bug fighter," I pointed out. "Anytime you start playing with Hork-Bajirs, it's not a minor thing."

<Do you fear them?> Ax demanded. He stared at me with all four eyes.

"You better believe I fear them."

<Fear is unworthy of a warrior.>

I didn't like this. I didn't like the damned determination I was seeing in him. I could understand where he was coming from, but this was our problem. Him being homesick was not a priority.

But if I were him, on someone else's planet, while my people were in the middle of a war… I'd do anything to bail. And we needed him gone before he did that anything and put us at risk. We also needed to deter him from any inclination to move against us in his own interest.

I've always been able to see from Point A to Point B. Clear as day. But I think, maybe, this was the first time I really used it. I used it on Ax. I took everything of what little I'd learned and drew the line I needed. I didn't care back then. To me, he was another invader.

I looked him right in his main eyes. "How many times have you fought Hork-Bajir? Or any other Controller?" I asked, my voice clear and even.

He hesitated. Then, his stalk eyes drooped. He pawed the ground with one hoof. <Never,> he said.

"Ever fought a vampire or werewolf?"

<No, I have not.>

"Did you even know they were here?"

Most of his eyes glanced away.

I nodded. "I thought so. So let me tell you something, Ax. It's scary. It's scary when those blades are slicing you open like you're made of cream. It's scary when nightmare monsters come tearing after you. It's scary to know that death…" I swallowed. "Death is the best possible thing you can hope for. You pray to whatever's out there that they just break you or zap you, because you don't want them to tear pieces off. You don't want them to ruin your life forever. You don't want them to make you a slave and endanger your friends and family.

"And if, _if_ you get out safe and sound, you honestly have no fucking clue how that happened, because earlier that day, when you said survival was part of the plan? You were lying. That's what it is, Ax, lying. Any of your 'warriors' that say the battle is fearless either haven't seen it yet or they're lying their asses off because they know that you cute little trainees won't follow them in without the pretty propaganda.

"So how 'bout you try telling us the plan again but without the preaching?"

Ax bowed his head briefly. <If we are able to obtain the Yeerk ship, I should be able to return to the Andalite home world. I will then inform my superiors of the situation here. How many Yeerks are here. The… number and variety of hosts.>

"This isn't information you had before?" asked Jake.

<I do not believe so.>

"And then they'll come here faster?" asked Cassie.

<I am young. Like you. But I am the brother of Prince Elfangor. My people will listen to me. I… I know that they will come, either way. But yes, perhaps if I can return and tell them how desperate your situation is…>

I nodded. "Now, _this_ is starting to sound like a plan."

I had no idea if he was being honest about his intentions, but trying to pretend he was still meant something good for us. For the time being anyway.


	2. Mother May I (Edriss/Eva backstory)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1994...

"A transfer?" Edriss repeated. "I built this invasion. Under me, we have the best success rate of any planetary acquisition thus far! What are they thinking handing my project off to that… that foul beast?"

"I believe it's an usurpation, Visser," said Iniss 226. "There has been a secondary operation beneath your own. I am sorry to say that it came about because of my integration."

Edriss snarled through her host's teeth. "You filthy--"

"When I pushed for merging these two operations, I had _you_ in mind," he said. "You are right. You are brilliant. They underestimate you. Our people still play by old rules. They see the host instead of the Yeerk. They think a morph-capable host will be better able to handle the new demands."

"New demands?" she repeated, incredulous.

"But there's still a chance," Iniss insisted. "Your host could be improved."

Edriss rolled Eva's eyes. "All that's available are lizards and worms and more humans like her. We have a few Leerans, but they're better as an assistant, not-- What is that look?"

"They're not the only options," said Iniss, leaning forward. "There is a power on this planet. A power over life and death. You could wield that power, through Eva. All you need to d--"

"Hey, Mom!" her host's son called from the front door. "I'm back from Jake's!"

Edriss rolled her eyes and stood. "We'll continue this later."

"Actually," said Iniss, reaching out to stop her without actually touching her. "These things tend to run more smoothly when the body is discovered quickly."

Edriss stared at him. She could feel Eva's panic rise. Finally, her interest was truly captured. "The… body?" she repeated.


	3. New Parts (Rachel)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Rachel. I don’t go by that anymore, because I’ve been dead for a while and changing my identity is a good way to cover that up. Also we’re fighting an alien invasion, blah blah blah…
> 
> Can you believe Marco made me go shopping with Ax? I’m thinking about changing my vote for him as leader.

* * *

"Ax starts morphing at ten-twelve and is done by ten-fifteen. The bus will be at the stop at ten twenty-five," Marco said. "It will arrive at the mall at eleven. By that point Ax will have been in morph for forty-five minutes. That leaves an hour and fifteen minutes on the two-hour morph time."

"There is such a thing as over-planning, Marco," I said, digging a speck of dried blood out from under my nails. 

<Not when I could be stuck in morph for the rest of my life,> said Ax. <I do not think any of you understand the gravity of that situation, but some seem to less than others.>

I snorted. "You can point fingers if you like. I've been called worse."

Ax raised a seven-fingered, blue hand, but Marco pushed it back down, shooting a glare in my direction. I smirked but decided to let it go when Jake shook his head. Marco continued, "Thirty minutes to reach Radio Shack, find what Ax needs to make his transmitter, buy it, and get back to catch the eleven-thirty bus home. That gets you back here at five after twelve. Ten minutes to spare."

<That is… cutting things close, is it not?> Ax worried.

Marco shrugged. "It's the best we can do."

"Question," I said, raising my hand. "Why can't Ax just morph at the mall before or at least after? Cut our time down?"

"Too many witnesses," Marco decided. "Too many ways for someone to accidentally trip over you. We've had too many close calls already."

"And you don't think it's obvious when I'm walking around with a Cassie-Marco lovechild?"

Cassie grimmaced. "Can you not call him that?"

"It won't be obvious without me or Cassie there to compare him to," Marco insisted as Ax went ahead and started morphing next to him. Cassie turned away, and I politely raised my hand to block my field of vision simply because it was the thing to do. I knew Ax didn't care any more than I did. "Anyone who has seen us should only think he looks vaguely familiar. That's how people work."

"Right, so in the choice between me and Jake, you pick the filthy over clean just in case," I growled, not caring if it makes strategic sense. Just once I would like that to not be my role in life.

Marco blinked at me in surprise. "What?" He turned and shot a look at Jake, who had his hands in his pockets and was frowning at me. Then, "Whoa! Hey!" he shouted, catching the Andalite as his front legs disappeared.

"Rachel, Marco picked you because you're in the mall at least once a week if not more," Jake said. "If anyone can get this done efficiently, it's you."

I would have blushed. "Oh."

"What was that about?" Tobias asked, but I just shrugged, embarrassed.

Jake quietly stepped forward and handed Ax a bag of clothing and instructed him on how to put it on. I might have peeked, but I mean… come on. Who could miss that comedy of errors?

"You know, if he's going to be prettier than Marco, he should dress prettier than Marco," I decided.

"Um, no," said Marco. "No distractions, Rachel, I'm serious! If all goes to plan, this is the last time he'll be in human morph, and he'll be leaving the planet soon, so he doesn't need a new wardrobe. He needs thirty minutes in the mall at Radio Shack."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I got it. Just saying." Then, I grinned at him. "Did you really just say, 'if all goes to plan'?"

Marco looked horrified. "Goddammit, you made me jinx myself!"

I giggled, knowing that would only irritate him further.

Jake pulled us away from Marco, and _gawd_ was that Cassie-Marco lovechild pretty. It was so unfair. "Okay, kids, you've got a bus to catch."

"Busss. Buh-suh," Ax sounded out.

I snickered. "Not the least bit suspicious."

Marco reached out and caught Tobias's wrist, then seemed surprised by his success, then pushed the thought away. "Do not. I repeat, do _not_ , back them up. It is just the mall. They are badass enough on their own. You are known by the Yeerks, and you will give them away. You will hurt them. Please understand why you have to sit this out."

Tobias glanced at me, and I nodded. "He's right, Tobias. You're good backup, but not here. We can handle this. Take the day off. Go prank a priest or something."

Tobias sighed. "Fine, but be careful."

Ax scowled, huffed, and awkwardly walked out of the alley we'd hidden ourselves in. I hurried after him. "Cassie's genetics helping?" I guessed.

"You knowingly allowed me to acquire a vecol," he whispered.

"I dunno. What's a vecol?"

Ax remained silent on the issue. As the bus arrived with surprisingly accurate timing, he said, "Let us finish this quickly. Nish. Ffff. In."

"Please stop practicing mouth sounds," I whispered, holding his hand as we boarded the bus to make sure he didn't fall down. We took a seat that didn't have any occupied seats nearby. There weren't any supernaturals onboard as far as I could tell, and it's rare that we're able to hide our nature from each other. "Ax, if we did something wrong, we didn't mean to. I'm sorry if sensing him is a bad thing. I don't think anyone expected you to. It wasn't part of the plan."

Ax didn't say anything about it again, but he seemed to relax a bit knowing we hadn't made him… whatever he said… on purpose.

The mall was filled with people. I could see what Marco meant about it not being a good place for Ax to morph, but there was something he hadn't thought about. Pulses. Hundreds and hundreds of pulses. Surrounding me. Pounding away like marching drums. Adults. Children. Old people. My fellow monsters.

Jake should have been there instead of me. This should have been done on a weekday. This should have been anything other than what it was. Panic and hunger rose in my throat. My dreams of war were not helping. Sharing a house alone with vibrant, healthy, helpless humans was not helping.

"Your facial contortion has changed," said Ax. "Orshun. Con. Fay. Contor--"

"It's called an expression," I interrupted. "And it's nothing. Let's book it to Radio Shack."

"Book? Ook?"

"Uh. Hurry. Slang for hurry." I scowled uncertainly. "Yeah, we're gonna tell everyone you're foreign."

"You are different from your friends," he said, scrambling after me like a toddler, forcing me to hold his hand some more to make sure I didn't lose him. The better to sense his new succulence. I liked him better as an Andalite. Andalites smelled foul and unnatural. Almost as bad as werewolves.

"Well, I'm dead. I thought Jake got the point across on that?"

"Yes. Well… I am confused. Few-zed. But yesss."

"Do you really need to understand it? You'll be…" I glanced around to make sure no one was listening. "Going home soon."

"But I would like my... cousins to have the information they need, should another... excursion be planned," he said, easily catching onto the need for surreptitious language.

I thought about that, as I tugged him down a side hall and away from the apparently distracting smells of Starbucks. He almost fell, but I didn't apologize. He knew what we were there for. "Okay, fair enough. We get this done, and I'll make time for awkward conversations about the overly personal,…"

He nodded. "That would be--"

"... if you do."

He startled. "What?"

With my free hand, I flipped my hair over my shoulder. "Hey, you're adorable, and I like you, but trusting pretty strangers has gotten me in a lot of messes, you know?" I laughed, and then didn't, at the sudden memory of Frank. "A lot of trouble."

"I will… consider this," he said quietly, but he looked disappointed and… I dunno. Embarrassed?

"Come on, that's not a big, yeah? What, people in your 'country' don't have gossip sessions?" I asked. "Oh, there's Radio Shack!" I pulled Ax inside. "Okay, any of these isles look familiar? I'd like to _not_ ask the sales people for once."

Ax glanced up and down a couple isles before seemingly finding what he was looking for. Finally distracted, he stopped making mouth sounds and started muttering to himself about technology and what would fit together like a proper nerd does. I just had to hope that these words were the same a human would use.

So I leaned against a stack of boomboxes and flipped through the latest issue of _Seventeen_ , which I'd tucked away into my purse.

"Rachel?"

If my heart could sieze… Slowly, I lowered the magazine. "Hiiii, Melissa."

"Whatcha doin' in Radio Shack?" she asked, leaning pointedly away from the human clerk helping her. The human clerk with the stink in his ears that Jake and I had identified as being a recently fed Yeerk.

"This guy is fixing my radio," I said, nodding toward Ax who, luckily, was keeping his head down.

The clerk-Controller glanced at the basket of items next to Ax. "That is a very broken radio."

I quickly stepped between them. "Heh. Yeah. Well, little sisters. You know. So what are you doing later?"

"Uh… I don't know. Why?"

"Answer lies in a riddle," I said with a wink.

He stared at me, confused, while Melissa put her hand over her face. "A riddle?" he repeated.

"What's loud and squirming and red all over?"

"I'm just… gonna go… help another customer…" he excused himself before fleeing.

"Rachel!" Melissa fussed. "You are the absolute worst!"

"I'm fascinated that you didn't figure that out years ago," I drawled.

Melissa made a whining noise and went to find someone to help her. Ax looked up at me, confused. "I do not understand that riddle."

"The answer is 'a victim' and only someone who is familiar with Type Ones would have gotten that," I explained. "To other people, it sounds like innuendo."

Ax made a face and returned his attention to the rack of items. "You are a strange and possibly disturbing child. Ing. Stray..."

"Awe, thank you."

Ax stamped his foot, making me giggle. It looked even more childish and silly when a human did it. "I cannot find a Z-space transponder. Transponder. PONder."

"'kay," I said. "What's that?"

He turned to me again. "A Z-Space transponder. It translates the signal into zero space."

"Zero space?" I repeated.

Ax looked doubtful. "Zero space," he repeated. "Zeeeero. The opposite of true space. Anti-reality." He blinked slowly at me, as though waiting for something about me to change. My "facial contortion," perhaps. "Zero space, the nondimension where faster-than-light travel is possible. Bull. Possi-bull-uh."

My eyes widened. "Oh shit."

"Shit?" he repeated uneasily.

"Ax, at this point, most of humanity has accepted faster-than-light travel as a for-fact impossibility, and those that haven't accepted it still don't know how to do it, which is what enables the rest to accept it as impossible, do you get what I'm saying?" I hissed as quietly and urgently as I could. "This part doesn't exist in a fucking Radio Shack."

"Oh." Ax looked like I had killed his puppy. Except, you know, slightly less horrified and not at all screaming. He glanced at his basket. "Does all the rest of this go back?"

"I… I don't know. Look, it's not a bad plan, Ax. Let's just… Let's get all of these things, and then talk to the others, okay?" I forced a smile for him. "Extra equipment can't hurt."

Ax mimicked my smile awkwardly.


	4. Consignment (Eva/Edriss backstory)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1994...

"I don't understand why must meet others of the like," said Edriss 562. "Is this not a matter which you are capable of handling?"

"For my host to bring blood to yours might give me something of a power over you. It would not be appropriate to seek to trick a superior in such manner," Iniss 226 answered honestly.

"To play your cards face up but only as needed, does that not also manipulate your superior?"

"If it were so," he admitted. "But I play face up out of respect and interest. I play as needed because the Council held my cards first. Indeed, there are times recently when I have had to snatch my own hand from the Council's grip."

Edriss looked out at the road passing rapidly beneath Chapman's car. "Such as now?" she asked.

"Such as now," he confirmed.[[MORE]]

"I find myself in a position to which I am unused."

"That is a lie to which you are aware. Eventually, you will overcome this position as you have the others."

"I'm flattered by your confidence."

"If you like." Iniss pulled up to a house. Her host was alarmed. Eva recognized that house.

"Why do you continue to chose allegiance to me when it might now be the best tactic for your survival and status to do otherwise?" she asked.

"My host knows of figures like Esplin nine-four-six-six from the history of this planet. They wrought destruction to their own which took too long to recover from. I would like to avoid similar costs."

Edriss nodded. "You would especially like to avoid being included in the price."

"That would be beneficial, yes." Iniss opened the door and stepped out, and Edriss followed suit. He lead the way up the drive. "We have one recently acquired Human-Controller here. He has lead his host's parents away to a Sharing meeting, as per my instructions, though he does not know why. He thinks I am encouraging their involvement. The individuals which we are addressing tonight know nothing of us or our kind, and we must keep it that way."

Eva was sad but relieved. Her child's friend was only an alien slave, not a monstrous liar. "Do these vampires make poor hosts?" Edriss wondered.

"They are no more difficult to control once we are inside, but this boy has slain hundreds in the name of the girl, and her, thousands… many of which were for him. At this point, so many Hork-Bajir-Controllers are not worth so few vampires. We should let them have their peace until the late game."

Edriss nodded. It was a good plan, and she could see the merit. They came upon the door, and Iniss knocked, and they waited.

Soon, the door opened, and Eva's heart sank into her stomach. Her son's friend. The new boy. The early bloomer. Jonathan. "You don't think it's suspicious using the community program like th--?" He stopped when he saw Eva. His eyes widened. "No. No!"

Edriss glanced to Iniss, but he was unimpressed by the boy's protest. "This conversation does not benefit the neighbors, Jacob," he chastised, referring to the boy by a different name than the one she knew.

"She has a family!" he insisted. He turned to her. "You have a family. How can you ask for this?"

Eva's stomach turned. Her will pushed uselessly against Edriss's. Edriss reminded her that with the vampiric edge to survival, she had a much longer lifespan in which to hold on to her useless hopes and dreams. "There are details which aren't your business to know," she calmly told the boy. "What I will tell you is that, in the end, this _does_  benefit my son. More than you are currently capable of understanding."

"How?"

"More than you are currently capable of understanding," Edriss repeated pointedly. She turned to Iniss. "Have you been invited into this house before?"

"No," he admitted.

She kicked the door out of the boy's loose grip and stepped past the threshold. "Come in," she said.

Iniss stepped inside and shut the door. "You can't do this!" the boy insisted to the two of them. He was obviously desperate to call it off.

"Look, Jonathan… Jacob?" Edriss started. "I'm sorry which is it?"

"Ignore him," said Iniss. "He has already served his purpose, and he'll do nothing drastic to prevent it so as long as he persists in the delusion that he is of a righteous make. The Virgin exists as an errand boy and" He turned to look to the boy with a small snarl. "as a reminder.

"You are to be turned by another who, I sense, is waiting in the kitchen." Iniss pushed Edriss forward down the entryway toward the kitchen, but the boy grabbed his arm.

"I don't want this!" he said desperately. He looked about to cry. Eva felt a confused compassion for him then. Perhaps not a true monster, but a little boy in the role of one. He was honestly trying to help and protect her. He really didn't know the game he was playing.

"Do you want instead for us to repeat our roles in the events of 1967 while someone else takes care of this woman's needs?" Iniss offered. "Because we can also do that."

The boy withdrew. "No."

Iniss pointed Edriss toward the kitchen. "Go."

Edriss wondered, briefly, if he had forgotten his place with her or was merely playing out their human roles much better than most Yeerks were capable of. She recognized, however, that it was not the time to investigate the matter.

She entered the kitchen, hearing Iniss quietly chastise the boy in the entryway. There seemed to be a history between the boy and Iniss's host, Chapman.

Waiting, posed on a stool with her ankles crossed and her hands folded like she was about to be painted, was another child. A girl roughly the same age as the boy. Similar in some features, but lighter in complexion. She was aesthetically pleasing but ultimately boring. Interchangeable and forgettable, like a girl from a magazine. "You're the one who's supposed to… change me?" Edriss asked, in the guise of Eva.

"Yes," said the girl. "But I heard Jake. He doesn't want me to now. And I wasn't really comfortable with it in the first place."

Edriss forced Eva to nod sympathetically. "I understand."

The girl blinked in surprise. "You do?"

"You're a child, aren't you? You have been for quite a while. People are asking you to do very adult things. And I'm sure you have done such before. I'm sure you are quite capable. But you do not like to. You would like to preserve what innocence remains, if any."

The girl looked so hopeful, so happy to be understood. "Yes. So you're going home, then?"

"Eventually. But first, we must both sacrifice our innocence to the world. We don't get a choice in that matter." And then, as Iniss had instructed her, Edriss drew the sharp knife from her pocket and fearlessly hacked open Eva's arm, the cut deep and ragged and painful and immediately bloody, and she heard the stool clatter before she perceived that the girl was off it. The girl was upon her, sharp teeth pinning mouth to flesh, tongue eagerly lapping at the blood and pushing at the wound to urge the flow to continue. Eva's ability to focus was already weakening, and she was crying quietly through the pain, and Edriss lowered to her knees and called for Iniss's help.

It wouldn't do to die here and stay dead. Not after so much effort.


	5. Trust (Cassie)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Cassie. And things are different now. They’re scary. It’s like… strangers inside strangers. You can’t see where the danger is, but you can feel it everywhere. My friends and I, we do our best to fight it, but it’s a lot to ask. Every advantage is a disadvantage. A blatant danger.
> 
> Marco is the smartest of us. He’s always thinking several moves ahead. And there’s fear in his eyes. There’s an urge to hide, to flee, that everyone can see.
> 
> Jake and Rachel, they’re good to us. But they’ve been cut off for so long. They don’t know how to belong with us. They’re used to relying on poison and subterfuge. They refuse to let a monster touch a human, no matter how human that monster is.
> 
> And Tobias has gotten all the worse since Ax joined. I can barely hear him anymore. I think he’s angry.
> 
> Ax doesn’t belong here. He’s a child, untrained and unready, like all of us. The best thing he can do for us is to go home and to let them know what’s going down here. To get the Andalites here as fast as possible.
> 
> No one trusts anyone.

* * *

"I don't like the idea of spying on our friends," I muttered.

"It's not spying when we told them that we were backing them up," Marco grumbled.

"In morph?"

"They know that we can."

"Marco…"

Marco turned to a space of empty air. "Tobias, are we clear?"

All I heard was white noise. Like when you don't quite get the channel right on the television. Ax, next to me, looking like a cousin to both me and Marco, didn't react at all. The agreement he was talking about was obvious, though. Mr. Chapman could see Tobias and would recognize him, and Ax looked too much like me and Marco and couldn't be seen by an enemy like Chapman who might already be suspicious, so they were both only there in case everything went wrong.

I wondered which plan Marco gave them this time. Would they to be a last ditch effort to save us? Or were they going to run to our homes and save our families?

Fluffer McKitty hissed and spat in the carrier Ax held. "Are all earth animals this… friendly?" he asked. "Leee? Fren. An-im-"

"Yes, oh my god, shut up."

I hit Marco. "Yes, Prince Marco," Ax said, looking at us with something like confusion.

I gave him a glance of sympathy back, then turned to Marco. "Okay, who's morphing what?"

"We all know you're the prettiest morpher," Marco said with a wink. "Why ruin your track record now?"

I laughed. "You just don't want to stick your hand in the cage."

Marco glanced at Fluffer, who growled and backed up into the corner of the carrier, fur on end. "He is scarier than the tiger."

I rolled my eyes and took out the small jar with several fleas from the clinic in it. I carefully pulled the top off and placed Marco's hand immediately on top. Carefully, I tipped both over. "Okay, you should have at least one flea. Concentrate, I guess, and see if it works?"

Marco nodded nervously and closed his eyes. After a long moment, he nodded and looked at me. "Yeah, I think I felt it." He gestured to Ax and the carrier. "Welp. Your turn."

I smiled. He wanted me distracted as he morphed down to a gross bug. I turned to Ax and to Fluffer. "You okay?" I asked.

"I… I will be home soon," he answered.

"That's not what I asked," I told him.

He glanced over my shoulder, where the crunch sounds were coming from. Bones rearrancing. Shrinking. Flesh melding to a new shape. Exoskeleton growing. I could only imagine. Ax glanced at me again, and, for a second, I thought he might open up. But he didn't. We were his new team, and I think he liked us well enough, but we weren't _really_ his. Not in the meaningful way. And in a weird way, I could sort of get that.

Ax shoved the cat carrier at me. Slowly, I eased my hand between the bars, and Fluffer lashed out. This was not my first pissed off animal, though, and I grabbed his paw right as he buried claws in my flesh. He didn't have time to react. He relaxed as I concentrated on him and felt that tingle of a mild electric buzz run through me. "Buzzt. Brrrmm," I said to myself. Ax looked at me. "Copy machine noises," I explained. He continued staring. "Earth humor. Nevermind." I let go of Fluffer McKitty and concentrated on the morph.

My skin itched as fur spread out across my body in a black and white pattern. I shrank down. My spine extended. My ears slid up my head. My nose and mouth stretched out in front of me, but not as much as they did for other morphs. My teeth got dangerously sharp. Muscles rippled across my body. I doubt they could really be seen on the small body under all the fur, but I felt the power. I felt the predator instincts, swagger, and confidence.

<Is this what Rachel feels like all the time?>

<Shit, I hope not. I'm gonna be having ni--> Marco paused. <Wait, what are you talking about?>

<All this power! This knowledge that I can and _will_  do whatever I want!> I said. Then, <What are you talking about?>

Marco didn't answer for a moment. Then, <Same thing. Do cats have hotter blood than humans?>

<Yes, slightly. You can sense that?>

<I'm hopping over to you now. Don't move,> he said without really addressing my question.

I waited, exchanging a glance with Ax. I was getting an idea of what Marco had originally been referring to. <OW!>

<I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It's instincts!>

<It's… it's okay, okay? Just… try not to?>

<Yeah. Yeah, okay.>

I glanced at Ax again. <You gonna be okay all by yourself?>

"I thought you said I wasn't by myself," he grumbled, and I think he was being snarky, but it was nice to hear him not pretend Tobias wasn't happening. "Someone has to watch the creature."

I nodded my kitty head. <Okay. Stay safe.>

And then I leaped through the open window like it wasn't even there. My paws didn't even touch the sill! I raced across the overgrown yard. Up a fence. Across another yard.

The Chapman house loomed closer and closer. I stopped at a kitty door. <Okay, I'm just outside,> I told Marco.

<Remember: Be the cat, but don't let the cat be you.>

<I've been around animals my entire life. Second part's only a little bit harder than usual. What about you?>

<Hard, but I got a nice feast under me, so at least I won't be falling off any time soon.>

<Okay.> I said. <Okay.> Then, <Right. Okay.>

<Cassie...>

<RIGHT!> I lunged through the cat flap. Inside was Mrs. Chapman. She was chopping vegetables at a counter. There was no music. No humming or muttering or fussing. <Creepy. I didn't think anyone cooked like that...>

<Like what?>

<Robotic. She's not enjoying it or hating it or even distracted. She's just… chopping? I didn't think people did that.>

<Uh, Cassie? I don't think people do.>

<Oh.>

"I want you out of my family, Hedrick!" I heard Jake arguing in another room.

"Fair enough," was Chapman's calm reply. "Get back out of mine."

There was a long silence, and then their voices dropped. I caught bits, but I wasn't sure of the full context. I had already been starting to get an idea, though.

It wasn't an idea that I was comfortable with.

<Fluffer smells blood,> I told Marco.

<I don't sense anything close. Go see if something's up with Rachel. But be careful!>

I ducked out. Into the hall. I smelled around and tracked the smell to the basement door, which looked to be slightly ajar. <Basement door,> I told him. <I'm going in.>

<Shit. Careful. Eyes on hiding places.>

I trod carefully down the stairs, the smell of blood getting stronger. I was halfway down, when I heard it.

A giggle.

<I think Rachel's down here,> I told him.

<In a good way or bad way?>

<Well, I heard a giggle, but-->

Another giggle. A higher pitch. A chirpier style.

<Melissa's with her,> I informed him.

<Fuck. _Fuck_. >

Melissa didn't smell of Yeerk, according to Jake and Rachel, but not every Controller did. (Marco's sense of smell had doubled, as far as we'd been able to test, but it wasn't enough to catch Yeerks.) Her parents were Controllers, though. It seemed safe to assume that Rachel had been caught by the enemy. That blood I smelled could be hers. Melissa was a vampire, too. She had the power to fight Rachel, to torture her.

<See if there's a way to evacuate her,> Marco decided. <If there's not, bail. I mean it, Cassie. They can get themselves out of a lot more than we can.>

I felt sick. I didn't like the way that Marco was right about things. I trotted slowly down the stairs, trying to give Fluffer as much control as I could allow, so that I would look as inconspicuous as possible.

What I found was not what I had expected.

There was an office in the basement. A desk and several file cabinets. Some were new. Some were older. Others were downright retro.

<I don't think Rachel needs help,> I informed Marco, as Rachel's mouth traveled from Melissa's lips to her neck where blood was already slowly seeping out of a vicious bite.

<Oh god, is she dead?> Marco whimpered.

Rachel licked the bite as a free hand traveled behind Melissa, who was sat on the desk, to a pile of scattered papers. Melissa's giggles turned into a small moan.

<No, she's not the one dying,> I snickered.

<What?>

Rachel kept touching and kissing and licking and biting Melissa as she picked up papers and objects and examined them. She even pocketed a couple. She even opened a couple drawers. Melissa absolutely did not care an ounce about protecting her father's work.

<I'm pretty sure Melissa's not a Controller,> I told Marco. <Rachel is easily distracting her.>

<Distracting? You said there was blood!>

<Remember when she distracted the Sharing for us?>

<That girl only has one sort of style,> Marco grumbled, but he sounded relieved.

<They're on the desk. Rachel is looking through Chapman's stuff at the same time.>

<So when he finds everything out of place, he'll smell hormones and blood, and assume it all has to do with horny vampire teenage lesbians,> said Marco, adding, <I think I've seen that movie.> Returning to his point, he said, <That's smarter planning then I thought she was capable of.>

I watched as Rachel smoothly negotiated Melissa's weight so she could unlatch a bottom drawer with a bobby pin from Melissa's hair without the smaller girl noticing. <I, uh, think she's done this before.>

<That… explains a lot, actually.>

<Ma  o?    sie?> came Ax's broken thoughtspeak voice.

Rachel flinched. It had been broadcast so she could hear. "Problem?" Melissa murmured, sliding a hand under Rachel's shirt.

"No," Rachel lied, her pure black eyes sliding around the room until she spied me sitting on the bottom stair. I waived a kitty paw at her. She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. Well, floor. I think she did, anyway. It's hard to tell when the entire eye is the same color.

<Ax? Where are you?>

<I      small ear    reature near  , tho    I      not stay be      I   lieve   may be prey.>

<Ax?>

<I  ame     arn  ou.>

<Ax!> Marco shouted. <If you're up there, who is watching the cat?>

My little kitty heart began to speed up.

<Ca    rrier broke         cat    he   d towa      Cha     resi     .>

Rachel glanced worriedly at us as she popped the bottom drawer out. <We've got it, Ax! Go! Don't get eaten!>

I turned to go up the stairs, and Rachel started sliding the drawer closed to bail at the nearest opportunity. I paused as a glimmer caught my eye. <Rachel! There's a weird cube in that drawer. There's something… odd about it.>

Rachel motioned for me to go, annoyance clear on her face. "Rachel? What are--?" Melissa asked, turning toward me.

And that's when Rachel and Melissa "accidentally" fell off the desk. "Oh god! I'm sorry!" Rachel pouted, shoving her hand right into the open drawer as she righted herself.

I rolled my little kitty eyes and ran back up the stairs. Casually as I could, I made for the kitchen, and

"MRRROW!"

Mrs. Chapman stared in confusion for a moment. Then, she drew her Dracon. <FLUFFER'S HERE MRS. CHAPMAN IS GONNA SHOOT!!!> I told my flea.

<Hiss at Fluffer!> Marco ordered. <Make her think that he's the morpher and shoot _him_! >

<Marco!>

<ARE YOU WORTH LESS THAN A CAT?!>

I hissed and swiped at Fluffer. He dove for me. I released the morph's instincts and found myself immediately in a vicious cat fight, jumping around the kitchen as Mrs. Chapman screamed for Hedrick.

Mr. Chapman ran into the kitchen, and I did my best to watch them without redirecting the morph, because I _really_  did not want them to figure out I was the morpher. I'm sorry, Fluffer McKitty. Jake came in with him, and his eyes scanned the scene. Chapman became suddenly tense.

"You really need to neuter that cat. How long ago did he do that?" Jake laughed, pointing at me. "Look, he doesn't even like it."

Chapman rubbed his eyes and gestured to Mrs. Chapman. She slowly lowered her hand and put away the Dracon. Jake pretended he didn't notice. He wore an expression of casual amusement, as Chapman decided, "I'm going to go fetch Melissa to pick out the right--"

"The one with the collar?" Jake guessed.

<Yes, Jake, the one with the collar is the real one,> I snarled, still hissing and swiping at Fluffer because the morph wanted to.

"Honestly, what is your issue?" Jake said, stepping forward, and, oddly, Chapman looked away, back the way he'd come from. "It's just a stray. You have a cat flap. It's going to happen."

"I smell blood," Chapman said.

Jake grabbed me by the scruff of the neck, pulled open the door, and tossed me outside. I landed roughly but well, and glanced back at him. His eyes were black. He slammed the door shut as Fluffer tried to give me a warning lunge. Just as I scaled the fence, Rachel dropped out of Melissa's window and ran over to the back fence. I dropped onto the other side of the fence and made a run for the abandoned house.

As my fur fell away and my tail shot up into me, the door swung suddenly open. I jumped, and Marco fell backward. "RAGHEL!" he shouted angrily.

"Guess who's got a weird thing!" she shouted in celebration, digging a metallic cube out of her pocket. She immediately dropped it when she gave Marco a proper glance. "Marco, your face!" she laughed.

The flea mouthparts retracted into Marco's face. "Let's see how pretty you morph, Vampirella. Oh wait, you can't."

"I'm _so_ regretting that now."

I picked up the cube from the floor. It lit up and shone light against Rachel's belly. She shouted and got out of the way. "I… don't think it's a weapon," I said.

"Awe, why not?" Marco pouted, and Rachel made a rude gesture.

As soon as Rachel was out of the way, I noticed, that it seemed to form a sort of hologram or something. Like on space shows. I turned the cube so it shone upwards, and it became clear that the hologram was a flat picture of something very much like a computer screen, only all the text was in a foreign language. Like… completely foreign.

Well, _alien_ , really.

"I think we should take this to Ax," I said.

"I think we should bail before Chapman notices his alien technology is gone," Marco agreed.

Rachel snorted. "Pretty sure he's too busy noticing that I turned over his daughter again."


	6. Unwanted, Unseen, Needed (Tobias)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Tobias.
> 
> It wasn’t long ago that my world was turned upside down. An alien crash landed in front of me and my friends. He revealed that there was an invasion of brain-controlling aliens who would take the whole planet if someone —anyone— couldn’t stave them off until the Andalites came.
> 
> I would have made him promises. I’d have told him that I’ve fought them tooth and nail until the bloody end even if I had to do it alone, even if it meant nothing in the end.
> 
> But I couldn’t do that. He didn’t even know I was there. He couldn’t see me or hear me.
> 
> Because someone out there already made that decision for me. Already sacrificed my life for a reason I can’t even remember.
> 
> Now, I’m just a name on the wind.
> 
> A lost memory.
> 
> A photo of someone you don’t recognize.
> 
> I don’t understand the point of this.

* * *

<I am surprised you can use that,> said Ax as everyone sat around in his meadow with Rachel's pilfered items strewn about. Mostly, it was documents that she knew was not what Ax was looking for when she grabbed them but had decided she wanted anyway. One object which she had been convinced was "completely of the alien kind" was, in fact, a paperweight. Everything else, aside from the cube, was vampire-related paraphernalia.

"Well, it's a computer, isn't it?" said Jake fidgeting with the hologram. "It's a bit ahead of us and in a different language but--"

<Wait!>

Jake stopped what he was doing. He looked startled.

<Go back to that last document.>

Jake obeyed, and Ax shifted to look at the text over his shoulder.

Marco looked at him curiously. "You can read Yeerk?"

<Yes.> He paid little attention to Marco, his main eyes staring at the display of symbols as his stalk eyes scanned the area. <lt is an announcement. The Yeerks have an important visitor arriving soon. Visser One.>

"I'm gonna guess Visser One is Visser Three's boss?" said Rachel.

<Yes. Visser One is more powerful than Visser Three. Just as Visser Three is more powerful than Visser Four. There are forty-seven Vissers in the Yeerk empire. Or so we believe.>

"Great," Jake said. "Forty-seven. Not all like our friend Visser Three, I hope."

<No,> he answered, tensing again. <Only Visser Three has an Andalite body. Only he can morph. Visser One has a human body, I believe.> He lost interest in the computer and straightened up again.

"Okay," said Cassie, "but if that computer has transmissions on it, then it must--"

<\--have existed in addition to Z-space transmission station,> he finished for her.

Jake rubbed his eyes, and Marco groaned and laid back on the grass. "Okay. Okay. We can deal. What does _that_ look like?"

Ax pushed Jake's hand away and quickly manipulated the holographic program, opening up some other file or application or something. Eventually, he showed us a picture of a large appliance. <This can send a signal to and from itself and other similar devices.>

"The fax machine next to the desk?" Rachel demanded. "You wanted me to steal the _fax machine_?!"

<No, there is a very small disc in the back, under this panel,> he said, pointing.

"You couldn't have told us that before?" Marco demanded.

<I did not know which set o  too the   erk

I looked around. I was in another suburb. Not good. Ax's refusal to acknowledge me and the team's gradual compliance was causing me to dissociate from them, and I was blinking out because ghosts needs a "root" and a "familiar". That was what Rachel had told me, anyway.

And even then, she'd said she was guessing. I didn't ask what the result of continuing without them might be, and she didn't tell me.

The real problem was that I had realized I was back in Chapman's neighborhood. Chapman knew my face. He couldn't see me continuing to haunt him.

But…

But Jake and Rachel or Marco and Cassie and Ax were gonna have a hell of a time getting in again after Rachel climbed all over Melissa while Jake berated Chapman and two Fluffers had made an appearance just a couple hours earlier.

They weren't looking for a ghost. For once, Chapman wasn't keeping an eye out for me.

I blinked over to their back fence, looking around carefully before I pushed through. It was far easier than walking through walls ever had been before. I had no root. No home. If my friends wouldn't talk to me…

I blinked across the yard, crouching next to the back wall. I crept around on my hands and knees until I finally found a basement window. I glanced inside. No Chapman. I could see the fax machine, though.

And suddenly I was next to it. I looked around again. Then, I crouched next to it and found the panel Ax was talking about. It was screwed in good. I sighed, then thought for a second.

With some nervousness, I pushed my face through the panel.

I saw only darkness, of course, since there was no reason for the inside to be lit. So I backed out. I reached in with my hands and pulled, but fingers only slipped back through.

I sighed. _Think substantial thoughts, Wendy. Time to come back to Earth._

Easier said than done.

What did it even feel like to be substantial? Did I still remember? What did it feel like to stand on solid ground? To lie on my bed? To feel the sun on my face.

To taste food.

To take a shit.

To get punched in the face.

To choke on toilet water.

To have teeth tear through--

The panel groaned and bowed outward, and I realized that the lights were flickering. Panic at my mistake rushed through me! Chapman would know I was here! He'd catch me! He'd use mystical vampire tricks to make me turn on my friends and

The panel flew off. I saw it. I saw the disc.

The door slammed open and feet thudded on the stairs, but I was gone. I was back in the meadow.

Rachel looked up at me. "Hey, Tobias. You look… better actually." She raised an eyebrow as she looked me over. "Where have you been?"

I nodded to Ax. "Tell him to morph into Cassie."

"What? Why?" asked Marco, and I could see Ax shifting his weight and drawing back the way he did when the acknowledgement of me made him uncomfortable.

Well, screw that.

"Because Cassie is the only morph he has that has a high likelihood of seeing me or hearing me. And we're talking. Now. Face to face. If he wants to get anywhere with this transmitter shit, he talks to _me_ , and you know it's true."

Marco scowled, I could see him weighing his stupid scales and mapping his stupid routes. He turned to Ax. "Ax-man, you gotta morph Cassie. Straight up Cassie; not the combo meal."

<Why?> asked Ax.

"Because Inviso-Boy is having some kind of fit and mandating," Marco explained. "It's a fit with points, though."

<I do not wish to-->

"Please don't make me call _myself_ 'Prince Marco,'" he said, apparently forgetting that he'd already done that once.

There was a long silence. Then, Ax started morphing. Cassie quickly stepped forward, pulling off the long, flannel shirt she'd been wearing as a jacket over her t-shirt and overalls. She hurried forward and put it over Ax.

Marco looked mortified. "I'm sorry, I didn't think about that."

"It's okay," she said. "It just now occurred to me, too."

Jake glanced over at me, but he said nothing. Mostly he kept the Cassie-Ax at the edge of his vision.

I appeared in front of Ax the moment he was done. "Can you hear me?" I asked.

Ax reacted immediately with revulsion.

"No. Shut up, and listen, okay?" I snapped. I crouched in front of him, and I extended my hand. I opened up my fingers to reveal the disc, and Ax's eyes widened. I suppose he could see it now, then. I wasn't sure how that worked.

"Oh _look at me_ , the make-believe delusion, actually contributing that one thing you seriously needed. So can we make a deal? I give you this, and I listen when you talk about junk you know, space things and alien species and whatnot. But when we say stuff exists, you don't say it doesn't. And you don't go around calling us words that you know we don't know, but fuck if you think I can't see your face. I'm _real_. I really went and got this for you. You think this is weird and disturbing for _you_? Dude, I woke up  _dead_.

"This is Earth. It's a different place than your home. Get over it, and maybe we can actually manage to kick some Yeerk butt."

Ax's eyes drifted downward. "I… I seem to… be making many mistakes."

"Just… Just take it, okay? For once, fucking admit that I am here."

Ax glanced up at me. And then he took the little disc from me.

"Are you done?" asked the real Cassie, behind me.

I stood and turned. "Yeah, I thi--"

Cassie slapped me. "What the hell makes you're special? Makes you better than us? You don't _ever_ make demands of us and berate us and speak for the rest of us again. Ever. I understand where you're coming from, but you have no idea how all of that made _me_ feel." There were tears in her eyes.

"You slapped me," I said. I was able to suppress the giggle but not the huge grin. I felt gulty about it, but that didn't keep the happiness down.

Cassie smirked, a piece of a smile returning to her pretty face, and she blinked away the budding tears. "Yeah, I can just barely see you enough to aim for a general head area."

And then she hugged me.

It was the best day of my death.


	7. Buried at Sea (Eva/Edriss & Jake backstory)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1994...

"And this is called a boom for a reason. Watch it. You can't depend on a boat wrecking itself. If the boat is lost, they'll keep looking for me. This will be harder to cover up."

"I hate you."

Edriss glanced back at the boy pouting nearby with his arms crossed. Small young white boy in shorts and boat shoes pouting at her. The sight was hilarious, and she couldn't keep the levity out of her voice as she asked why.

"Really?" he snarled.

"Yes, really. You barely know me. I was under the impression children barely even noticed adults existed."

"You're my best friend's mother!" Jacob protested, angry. "And you--"

"Best friend? You've only been around a few months. Even assuming he knew you from the start of the school year and just didn't bring you around for a while, that is what? Five months? Six?" Of course, she knew the actual number of months. As a mother, it was her job to know these things.

Jacob ground his teeth. Narrowed his eyes. "You're abandoning your child. Leaving him and your husband to mourn your death for stupid, vague reasons!"

"As opposed to?" Edriss asked. "Staying? Haunting? I'm doing what you never had the balls to." She turned toward him again, sneering. "I'm putting my family ahead of me."

Jacob snarled. "I stay because I care! Because I have the power to protect them!"

"So not a single Berenson has ever died as a result of you or your sister being around?"

Jacob felt sick. He looked away.

Edriss returned to making sure they stayed on course. "You have no idea the things I have done. What I've sacrificed. What I've left behind. Do not play games of guilt with me; you will lose."

"You don't seem all that guilty to me."

"I'll tell you what I tell Marco," she said. "The world sucks. The whole, universe, in fact. It's the worst, and it hurts. And you can cry about it, or you can laugh about it. Sometimes, I do cry. But on the whole, I choose to laugh." She smiled at him over her shoulder. "Crying just isn't very fun."

Jacob leaned against the side of the boat. "That's some shitty fucking advice."

"Maybe," she admitted. "Maybe I was never meant for human children."

"Ah, so now the blood was destiny," Jacob said, snorting derisively.

There was a bit of a pause before Edriss replied, "Yes, I suppose that was an odd thought."


	8. Trouble (Jake)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Jake, and I'm a liar.

* * *

"You look terrible," I said, leaning against the bank of lockers next to Marco as he randomly exchanged one set of textbooks for another.

"Thanks for your opinion, Dr. Phil."

"That's a math textbook and workbook."

"Yes?" Marco slammed his locker shut and spun the lock.

"We have English next."

He looked down at the books in his hands, sighed, and shrugged. "Let's be honest, I wasn't gonna pay attention anyway."

"Are you--?"

"Jake, _leave it_ ," Marco snapped. "I'm serious."

He shoved past me, but immediately his books were knocked out of his hands. The aggressing student barked at him as they continued past. Marco stared in confusion. I wasn't sure what to say.

Marco leaned down to get his books, which absolutely no one was making room for him to do. "This new trend in bullies is dumb. They just look like weird idiots doing that."

"Uh…"

Marco finally snatched his workbook just as a polished mary jane stepped on it to stop him. Eyes traveled up opaque stockings, a perfectly pleated skirt, and a pastel blouse, to that smirking face. "Oh."

"Hello, puppy," Melissa purred.

" _Now_ , I get it." Marco didn't look amused. That's kind of a big deal for him.

"Melissa…" I warned.

"Melissa, what?" she asked me. Her eyes gleamed with challenge. She was testing waters. She wanted to see who was more important and how much. She wanted to see what would happen if Rachel stole control from me.

I laughed at her. It wasn't what she was expecting. "You think Rachel and I will come to blows over a _dog_ and a _toy_? You don't know us at all. Kick all the puppies you like, we won't notice. She doesn't notice _you_ unless she feels like noticing you. Go tell her of your efforts and watch her giggle."

I think that Melissa would have been bright red with fury were she not so pallid. That's what you get when you let your lover steal all your fresh blood second-vein. With a glare that could kill small animals, Melissa kicked Marco's workbook away again and stormed off. "Hey!" he protested.

"Yap yap! Muzzle your dog!"

I frowned. I moved to fetch Marco's workbook. When I turned around, he was gone. He didn't show up to English, either.

Later, I found a ghost in my locker. "Uh…"

"Coast clear?" asked Tobias.

I looked around. "I guess as long as you stay in there," I said, awkwardly lowering my voice and shifting my weight to block any view of him.

"Ax finished the distress beacon. He and Marco are flying out to the abandoned quarry with it. You know the one I'm talking about?"

I nodded. I pretended to be having a hard time finding something.

"He wants Cassie and you and Rachel to join as soon as school is over. He says don't skip like he did; it'll look suspicious. Blah blah blah paranoia stuff. Oh, and something about masks."

I nodded again. "I'll relay the message. You should get out of here."

I closed the locker. Then, his words registered.

"Masks?"

* * *

So three hours later, Rachel and I were parking our bikes at the quarry. Rachel tossed pairs of flip-flops to Cassie and Marco who were delicately trying to move about the quarry in their morphing outfits. "Rachel, you are my goddess, and I worship at your feet," Marco joked, happily shoving them on.

"Not really helpful for rock climbing," she admitted, "but they'll keep you from slicing your soles open."

Cassie picked a piece of gravel out of her foot. "I think it might be too late for that."

"Did Toby tell you the new rule?" Marco asked.

"Don't call me that," Tobias said from a nearby ledge.

"Rule?" I asked.

"Thing about masks," Tobias grumbled.

"Oh, right! Hold on!" Rachel went back to her bike.

I returned my attention to Marco. "What rule about masks?"

"You two can't participate anymore without masks," he explained. "That way, they won't casually know which kids are helping out the so-called Andalites. They have to capture you first."

"So that would be the 'blah blah blah paranoia stuff' part of the message," I decided.

"What?" Marco turned toward the ledge, and Tobias disappeared.

Rachel came back with two masks, a fiberglass hockey mask and a ski mask. Marco raised an eyebrow. "What kind of life do you lead?"

Rachel shrugged. "I get bored." She handed me the ski mask, and Marco rolled his eyes.

"Ax is set up under that overhang," said Cassie, pointing. "I think we're about ready. Come on!"

Rachel followed her to the others and the overhang, but Marco grabbed my arm. "Hey, can I talk to you a second?"

"Oh god, _more_ planning?"

"Sort of." Marco frowned. He watched to make sure the others were out of hearing range. "You understand why they didn't vote for you, right?"

I rolled my eyes and kicked a rock. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm too much about Rachel. We're too isolated from the group, I get it."

"Good. So do you think you could not be?"

"Yeah, I told you, I'm working on--"

"No, I…" Marco brushed his hair out of his face, but he still wasn't looking at me. "Man, I'm asking you to take what you wanted. I took it because, at the time, I agreed. I was afraid of not taking it. But I think I can trust you. I'm sorry to be leaving you with one or no morphers, but I--"

"Whoa, wait, you're quitting?" I demanded.

Marco nodded. "This is the last one, Jake. I can't… I can't keep doing this. You don't know what it's been like the past few days. A year from now… I can't have Dad leaving flowers on two graves."

I thought of all the times I'd washed the blood off my hands. Made the phone calls with fake horror in my voice. Cried the crocodile tears of shock and grief because I had no real ones anymore.

Marco deserved better than that.

I nodded. "I can do right by them. I'll do my best to protect everyone."

Marco nodded. "Thanks, Jake." He headed toward the overhang. Except he didn't really say Jake. He said the name I'd been using the past couple years. So I told him. I told him that Jake was my real name.

"What?"

"My name is Jake," I repeated. "Originally, I mean. I've changed it a bunch since then."

Marco smirked. "Thanks, I guess?"

"And… And… my brother didn't teach me how to sail," I murmured.

Marco laughed and shook his head. "You're a weird guy, Jake." He continued up the slope.

"No, I'm trying to say that…" But I gave up. I could tell him later. Or maybe I shouldn't. It wasn't really right. She was probably right; he'd have more peace this way. I couldn't just bring it up again because knowing made me feel bad.

Just as I joined the group, a long tail burst from Cassie's backside, complimenting her carnivorous teeth and vicious claws and sprouting muscles. She fell forward, and fur spread up from the tip of her tail sprouting in golden orange and rich black ripples and swirls across her body to the tip of her new feline snout.

_Don't find that attractive. For fuck's sake, Jake, don't find that attractive._

Tobias glitched several times before disappearing. As Cassie finished morphing, Rachel suddenly faced Marco, who was half way to gorilla. She just looked at him a moment before nodding and heading further back into the shadow, similar to me. He was giving orders in private thoughtspeak, but why?

Chess, I realized. He was making sure everyone was concerned only with their orders and not with whatever he'd told the last person. He was minimizing conflict as the time approached. It wasn't a move I would have considered.

<It is working,> Ax reassured us.

"Don't mind us, officer," I said. "Just a couple delinquents and a ghost with an alien and some random zoo animals."

<I swear I got this morph by accident!> Cassie said.

"I don't even know what to think about that," Rachel laughed.

We were nervous, buzzing with energy.

<You have an amazing variety of animals on your planet,> Ax said. <Some day, when the Yeerks are defeated, Andalites will come here simply to try out the many animal forms. It would be like a vacation.>

<Joe Andalite, you've won the Superbowl! Now where are you going?> Marco joked. <I'm going to Earth to turn into a lobster!>

<I don't understand,> Ax said, but then he returned his attention to his device just as a red light began to flash on some display. <The response signal! They are coming!>

<Everyone quiet and ready!> Marco ordered. He shuffled back a bit to hide behind a boulder. Cassie was already almost entirely in shadow. I hadn't even noticed her move.

_SWOOSH!_ It came in low, just above tree level, then disappeared before turning to come back. A Bug fighter. Just as we'd planned.

<Here's your ride home, Ax,> Marco said.

_Swoosh!_ The Bug fighter flew over once again, seemed to pause, then settled down toward the floor of the quarry.

Bug fighters are the smallest of the Yeerk ships. They aren't much bigger than a school bus. They have a cowled, insectile look, except that on either side there are very long, serrated spears pointing forward. So they look a little like a cockroach holding two spears. It landed as gently as a feather.

I held my breath.

<You know your marks. Ghostie, then Kittie, then remaining morphers, then backup.>

The hatch opened. Out stepped a Hork-Bajir-Controller.

_CRA-A-A-ACKLE! FIZZZ!_ The electricity in the ship snapped and flickered. The contents rocked and shook. The Hork-Bajir turned in surprise. That instant was all that was needed for Cassie to spring over the boulder, slam him to the ground, and bite his knees.

Ax and Marco raced forward. Dracons exploded around them before Marco was barely even out. He pulled Ax down but not back under the shelter.

<We're surrounded!> Cassie shouted. She started toward the overhang, then doubled back to the ship. Marco's command, I realized. He didn't want the Yeerks to place importance on the overhang. I crouched and prepared to run out and help.

<Jake! Rachel! Hide behind the boulders!> Marco commanded. <Get as well hidden as possible! They haven't seen you yet!>

I gaped. "I won't--!"

<There's no way out of this with our identities in tact! We have at least a couple hours of stalling ahead for you to save our families.>

"But, we can still--!"

<YOU PROMISED!>

I stared at him. I looked to Cassie, the desperation in her tiger eyes. I felt sick. I've fucked up too much already.

I turned away, placing myself solidly out of view.

"No!" Rachel protested from her hiding spot. "He's being stupid! We can go down fighting! We can make a difference!"

But I shook my head, and she swore at me. She told me I was stupid and useless. And she went to sit behind a boulder. And we stayed there, hidden in the darkness, while the Visser mocked our friends. While they played the parts of haughty Andalites.

While they left to the Blade Ship.

And then, we waited a while more in silence until Tobias assured us that the coast was clear.


	9. We're Not Crazy About Death (Edriss)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My designation is Edriss five-six-two. My title is Visser One. My host at the time of this writing is called Eva.
> 
> The earth was mine. I found it. I studied it. I planned the invasion. Orchestrated and perfected every detail.
> 
> I’ve put more of myself into this backwater planet than any of my thousand siblings will ever know.
> 
> I may still have my chance for its conquest to be mine; its control under my name, my rules. But the faces of my cards keep changing, and I’m not entirely certain that I really know all the rules.
> 
> Whoever thinks that they can play against me for an easy win, though…
> 
> They should reconsider.
> 
> They should be afraid.

* * *

"Yes?" I asked the Hork-Bajir who stood politely in the entryway of my office.

"Visser Three is here," he informed me.

I looked up from my desk, surprised. "Already?" I glanced to the Imperial Duration Meter. He was almost a day early, by the homeworld calendar.

"He has the rogue Andalites. He says he wished to bring them to you right away."

"Oh, the rogue Andalites that don't exist because he killed them all the first time?" I asked. "Make them my problem, more like."

"I cannot conjecture."

"Yeah." I needed to finish this reply to the Council first. I would not be distracted by Esplin's antics. "Meet his troop with a troop."

"Yes, ma'am." He turned to go.

"Carger three-five-nine-one?"

He paused. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Be sure that our troop is bigger."

He smiled in that peculiar Hork-Bajir way. "Yes, ma'am."

When my reply was finished, I summoned Aftran two-nine-five, Akdor four-three-oh-three, and Yaheen seven-eight-seven. Hork-Bajir with talents of their own, but much less physically intimidating than their peers in my force. I knew that Esplin would choose his _most_ physically intimidating personal guard.

It has been a while since we last met in person. I would like to make a few points.

The door to the docking bay opened, and Esplin stood waiting for me. At first, he was proud of himself with a boastful stature. Then a stalk eye caught glance of my company, and he got a bit flustered with confusion.

"And the Andalites?" I asked.

<Uh… yes. Yes, I have all three, and-->

"Only three? Three Andalites caused you so much trouble?"

<You exaggerate the effects.>

"Did they not unleash a large number of SubHuman Type Threes into the Northern California Invasion Pool, causing extremely expensive damage, costing us several dozen hosts, and nearly exposing several entrances?" I asked. I did not wait for him to reply. "Oh, no, I have remembered poorly. That was your security team. Reacting to an elk."

Esplin turned his main eyes from me. <Open the hatch,> he ordered.

The Blade Ship opened, and I continued, "I have heard reports of allies. A SubHuman Type Two at the very least. Another source thinks one or more Humans or SubHumans Type Ones were involved in the ocean rescue of _another_ Andalite recently."

<Those reports are unverified, but I assure you that we will-->

"I also heard that you were explosively harpooned."

<I'm sorry; I don't understand your primitive Human phrases.>

I smiled politely. "Well, lead me to your Andalites, then. Let us see them."

Esplin glared at me with his main eyes, but he stepped forward and led his way to the open hatch with two Hork-Bajir guards on either side. I motioned for my companions to lag behind as I joined him at his left.

At the mouth of the hatch was a cage with an Andalite, a gorilla, and a tiger. Odd, that two were still in animal form. The revealed Andalite was young and male. Perhaps the other two were even more young. A child rebellion. Arisths and assistants. Not real soldiers. I smiled at the thought.

The gorilla caught sight of me, and it's eyes widened very suddenly. And it sat very suddenly.

Odd behavior for an Andalite.

The other two seemed to think so, too. The little boy turned a stalk eye to the gorilla, and the tiger swiveled its head. It pushed a paw at the gorilla's shoulder, but the gorilla stayed where it was.

<Why, Visser One,> Esplin sneered, <you seem to have frightened the humanoid one.>

"It is called a gorilla. If you are going to be in charge of Earth, Visser Three, you should at least learn something about the planet."

<And take a Human host body, like you did? No, I think not. Human bodies are weak. I much prefer this Andalite host.>

"Are they?" I let the matter drop. Seemingly.

Esplin's stalk eye again turned toward my guards, which were not guarding at all, and I did succeed in keeping a smile off my face.

The gorilla's eyes narrowed. Its grimace deepened.

<You would like to provoke me, Visser One,> Esplin rambled. <But the fact is that I destroyed the Andalite force. I shot down their Dome ship. I killed Prince Elfangor myself and heard his dying screams.> Ah, now the little boy tensed, his tail raising futilely. The spirit wasn't gone after all. <And now I have eliminated this last, pathetic rabble of Andalites.>

"You want to be Visser One? You think you can take my title? We shall see. The Council of Thirteen does not like Vissers who make mistakes. And you have made mistakes. Be careful of your own ambition. Be careful, Visser Three, of what you _think_ you know." I stepped up the ramp, approaching the cage. "What do you think, Andalites? Should your capture earn him _my_ place?"

The gorilla tensed predictably. The little boy and the tiger flanking it recoiled slightly, but their eyes flickered to their comrade. Perhaps this was the oldest of them. Or the most assertive. Perhaps it was just the smartest. But for some reason, they were waiting for it to give them a cue.

I stood before it. "Will you not offer your superior Andalite opinion on the--?"

The gorilla lunged for me. Smoothly, I grabbed its ham-sized fist and moved it swiftly to the side, cracking it against a bar. I released the hand and kicked the beast in the chest so that it crashed against the opposite side.

I must admit that I held back a bit. Dead Andalites are hardly of any use.

I turned my attention back to the gathered troops. Esplin was taken aback. My soldiers were snickering at a politely quiet level. I smiled only slightly. "Well, Visser Three, have fun with your new hosts. I congratulate you on your victory of three morph-capable Andalites," I sneered. I stepped down the ramp, and my guards escorted me toward the door.

Ignoring me, Esplin taunted the Andalites, <Yes, three Andalites. Three Andalite bodies that could be used by my most loyal lieutenants.>

The little boy exploded. <And then there would be others like you, you filth! Other Andalite-Controllers. More unnatural abominations like your vile self!>

<Why are you the only one who speaks? You're right of course: Why would I allow anyone to acquire Andalite morphing powers? But you are a child. Why do the others remain silent? And why do you all still hide in your morphs? Curious. Very curious.>

I hesitated at the exit. Had the idiot already figured out that he'd been had? That these were untrained Andalite children, and one wasn't even morph-capable? In fact, I wasn't convinced the gorilla was even Andalite.

Esplin dismissed whatever thoughts were brewing in his duplicate neurons. <Take them back to a holding cell. Triple the guard. If there is the slightest trouble, kill them.>

I rolled my eyes. "Run interference on his orders. Interference on rumors of interference," I instructed Carger three-five-nine-one.

"I thank you for my day off," he joked before departing from my party.


	10. She (Marco)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Marco, and I’ve been lied to.
> 
> And I swear to god,
> 
> to every fucking force in the universe that will hear me,
> 
> I will make it even.

* * *

<Is Visser One a vampire?> Cassie asked, sitting in a corner of our cell. <I mean… we all saw what she did, right? And her eyes…>

<I am not sure I understand the question,> Ax said, prodding at my broken arm again.

<OW FUCK! Lay off, will you?>

<You need to demorph,> he said. <You both do. You are approaching nothlit stage.>

Cassie turned to us, back haunches tucked low in fear. <But then they'll know our identities.>

<They'll know that soon enough,> Ax said ominously.

<Have we given Jake and Rachel enough time to save our parents?> she wondered.

I beat my good arm against one of the cell walls. They were all alike. Some sort of solid something. I could see no way out.

My mom.

No, Jake and Rachel would never be able to save my mom. She was what? Several hundred yards away? Somewhere? I could get her! I could save her! At the very least, I could free her! If only I could get out!

<My people have a saying - grace is the acceptance of the inevitable.>

<I have a saying for you,> I snarled. <I got it from a fortune cookie. 'Fall down seven times, get up eight.' You know what that means? That means you don't ever just lie there. You always get up. You always come back for more. You never surrender. Maybe you die, but you never surrender.>

They were staring at me.

<Flea. I can do flea again.>

<Marco…>

<There's gotta be a crack in here somewhere.>

<And then what? You demorph in front of a bunch of guards? Or in a wall? How do _we_ get out? Marco, think! >

<I'm trying! We have to try!>

The door opened. Well, not so much opened as appeared. One second, wall. Next second, wall with a Hork-Bajir-sized hole in it. Speaking of Hork-Bajir, there were three standing there in the gold uniforms that we'd figured out belonged to Visser One's personal army.

Lying on the floor were four other Hork-Bajir. In red uniforms. I couldn't say they weren't dead, but they didn't look good.

<Remain still,> I warned Cassie and Ax. I wasn't sure where this was going. Sure, it was obvious that the two Vissers disliked each other, but...

"This hallway goes on in that direction for a hundred feet," one gold-clad Hork-Bajir said, pointing to the left. "Then comes a guard station, where there will be two Hork-Bajir and a Taxxon. From there, four hallways. Take the one furthest to your left. Follow it to a dropshaft. Take the dropshaft down fifteen decks. Directly ahead you will see escape pods. The pod is programmed to return you to the planet in the same area where you were seized. The pod will then self-destruct. Do you understand?"

We stared.

<Prince Marco, this must be a trap,> Ax decided, in private thoughtspeak.

<But we're already trapped,> I told him. <They could kill us any time.>

<Politics,> Cassie said, with a laugh. <It's about politics! Visser One is making Visser Three look bad. If we escape, it will be blamed on Visser Three.>

"You will have to deal with any of Visser Three's troops that you encounter between here and the escape pod," the Hork-Bajir said. "Leave. Now."

<Only fifteen percent of your morph time is left.>

<Eighteen minutes,> I deciphered. I tensed, then nodded. <Let's do it!>

The Hork-Bajir tilted its head, but all three moved out of the way and marched off. I started for the door, but Cassie leaped ahead. <You're hurt, Marco. Let us support you.>

I hesitated. Then, nodded. She was right. Injured as I was, I should be in the middle. <Keep an eye out for Visser One.>

<Why do you think that she will be coming toward where she knows we will be making our escape?> Ax asked as we charged down the corridor.

<Probably not, but we can hope.>

<If we are hoping for enemies, I think you are concentrating on the wrong Visser.>

<Marco, is there a reason you-- Guard station ahead!>

Cassie leaped for the Hork-Bajir, her maw grabbing hold of a horn and twisting. I let the Taxxon get right up on me, his stinking breath pouring over me as he prepared to gulp me down, before I turned suddenly and took out one massive, gelatinous eye. Ax slit the remaining Hork-Bajir across the belly.

We didn't even make sure they were down for the count. That wasn't our objective. We just needed a head start from them.

We kept running, following Visser One's directions.

<Hork-Bajir! Look out, Cassie!> I called as a red-uniformed Hork-Bajir exploded out of a side corridor.

Cassie barely dodged a razor-bladed arm.

<More are coming!> Ax announced. <We must be ready for battle!>

<Try to sound less happy about that?>

"Hoohoo hoo hhawwwrr!" I cried and swung a fist the size of a cinderblock into the stomach of the Hork-Bajir. I gave it all I had. I put every ounce of the gorilla's muscle into the blow.

Ax's tail flashed forward so fast you didn't even see it move. The Hork-Bajir staggered back, minus an arm.

<Good one, Ax!>

<You as well! Haha!>

Maybe the Andalite wasn't all bad.

<Keep moving!> I ordered. <Left tunnel. Look for a dropshaft. Shaft that… drops? These guys are just gonna keep piling on us.>

"RRRRRRROOOOOWWWRRR!"

I plugged my ears, and Ax cringed as Cassie took down a Hork-Bajir up front. <Thanks, Cass, I don't think Saturn was aware until just now that the Andalites had broken free.>

The tiger cringed before leading the way around the crumpled bodies. <Sorry!>

We were starting to get caged in. More and more Hork-Bajir were piling into the tunnels. I suddenly felt claustrophobic. <Guys?!> I couldn't see them. There were too many bodies. <Cassie! Ax!>

Cassie's terrified scream rang out in my head.

<CASSIE!>

<Found the dropshaft!> she answered happily.

<Fuck! Don't-- Oh my god! What is it?>

<Like those tubes at the bank drive-through but without the thingy.>

<Thank you, Cas-- FUCK!> That was when I "found" the dropshaft.

I could see Cassie below me. She looked like an orange blur. <He said to stop after fifteen levels!> I reminded her.

<How?!>

<Think the number! It hears speech and understands simple thought-speak commands,> Ax instructed, leaping in after me. Then added, <At least that's how it works on our ships.>

<Oh. Okay. Okay! Yeah, I'm slowing down!>

I followed the same instructions. _Fifteen floors down from where I was. Fifteen down from the cells. Fifteen floors._

<There are Controllers entering after us,> Ax informed us.

Around level twelve, we passed a gawking human-Controller. It seemed kind of odd that there were Controllers who actually lead boring enough lives to gawk at this. Almost made me consider recruitment. "Hello, Mr. Yeerk, I would like to sign up for your horrific invasion of brain slugs, but only if you stick an accountant in my ear."

Hard floor under my feet! Cassie and I quickly bailed out of the way, but Ax paused as a big Hork-Bajir came down behind us.

SLISH!

Make that two Hork-Bajir.

<The escape pods!> Cassie cried, running ahead. They were only a dozen feet from us. A few seconds more and we would make it.

We shoved ourselves inside the nearest one, assuming it was the one with the correct programming, seeing as how it had the door open and everything. <Ax! Time!>

<Five percent of the time remains!>

<Six minutes. Morph out!>

There was a surge as the escape pod ejected from the underside of the Yeerk ship.

My dense black fur was already starting to disappear by the time the pod rotated. I could see Earth below.

Earth.

* * *

"See, if we _started_ with my plan, we'd be have Cassie's parents and be half way out of town by now."

"I kind of thought he'd listen to 'Hey, I'm a vampire, this is my scary face.'"

"It's like you were _just_ turned."

"Put my dad down, Jake," I said, pushing open the door of my apartment.

He turned to me with a look of utter fucking glee. The he just looked baffled. Then mistrusting. Like he had a fucking right to distrust me. "Where are Ax and Cassie?"

"At Cassie's house, checking on things there," I told him. "Rachel should go meet them."

His eyes narrowed. "Why? That sounds awfully Yeerkish to me."

"Because you and I need to talk about who taught you how to sail."

His eyes flew open. Then he just looked confused again. Then he deflated. "Rachel, go to Naomi's house."

"Jake, if you two have codewords, a Yeerk can easily--."

"That's not what this is about," he assured her. "And I have confidence you can escape them if they _are_ infested. Worst case scenario, the family needs watching."

Rachel chewed her lip, but she nodded. She closed the door on her way out.

Jake looked at me for a long time. "I don't understand. Did you run into vampires or something? Did they interfere? Save you?"

I shrugged. "Something like that. Put my dad down, Jake."

"Uh… Hold on." Jake looked around, and then pulled my dad back over to his favorite chair. "We'll talk about this in your room? Convince him all the weirdness was a dream?"

I shrugged. "He has been having a lot of those lately. Anniversary of her death and all."

Jake flinched. After a moment, he lead the way to my room. "What happened?" he asked, sitting on my bed.

I closed the door behind us. "No. You tell me," I growled. "I won't have you weave a lie from the strands I give you."

"Do you think that I'd--?"

"YES!" I shouted. "Yes, I fucking do!"

Jake looked hurt. And then he looked away. "Hedrick called. He said he was bringing a recruit. He told me to make sure that we had the house to ourselves. He'd used us a few times before for people he didn't want to be tied to traditional lines."

"And by 'we' you mean you and Rachel?" I demanded.

Jake nodded. "But I promise, she doesn't know anything about it. She'd never met her outside of that context. I only talked to her alone," he insisted. "So… So, Hedrick comes over, and there's your mom with him, and I flipped out, but they wouldn't hear it. Your mom insisted that she needed it, and Hedrick said I didn't have a choice. Your mom kept threatening vague stuff and being very forward and aggressive and confusing, and I didn't know what to do with it and…"

"And after she was used to it, a couple months later, Hedrick had me help her fake the boat crash. I still tried to talk her out of it!" He still wasn't looking at me. "Marco, I swear I did..."

"And even after we discovered everything about Chapman, you never thought, 'Hey let me think back on some of the really suspicious things he's done!'?" I demanded.

Jake snorted. "The guy was suspicious when I met him. It's not like every weird thing he does is immediately connected to the Yee…"

And then he looked at me.

"Shit," he said.

I looked away.

"She was there?" he asked.

"Visser One."

Jake folded his head in his hands.

"How long?" I demanded. "When did it happened? Had she already been a Controller for those last years when she was with us?"

Jake just shook his head helplessly.

"When she came to my bedroom to say good night, was that a Yeerk slug just playing a part?" I realized I was getting loud, but I couldn't stop myself. "When I tried to fake sick to get out of school, was it a Yeerk who saw through my story and teased me into admitting it? Did a Yeerk hand out the presents on Christmas morning? Did a Yeerk sing in the church choir? Was that a Yeerk pulling the puppet strings of my mother's body when she dragged me through J. C. Penney's and made me buy school clothes I didn't really like?"

He looked up at me. I think he was crying. I definitely was. "I don't know, Marco…"

"Did I find a Yeerk making out with my dad?" I continued to demand. I felt sick. I was crying and snotty. A complete mess. I'd been so angry a moment ago. I'd been ready to murder him for his part in this.

Jake stepped up from the bed and pulled me against him, trying to quiet me, but I couldn't shut up.

"Was all of it an act?" I wondered, desperate. "All of it fake? For how many years? How much was Mom? How much was… was _slug_?"

"I don't know, Marco." He hugged me tighter.

"Well, you're just fucking useless, aren't you?"

Jake laughed lightly. "Yeah, probably."

"I hate you."

"Okay." He smoothed my hair. "We're going to get her back, Marco."

I shook my head as much as I could in such a position. "We're going to free her," I corrected him. I'm not sure he understood. I think it took Jake and Rachel the longest of any of us to understand what we were fighting for. Freedom under all circumstances. The very fact that a corpse has more self than a Controller does.

Yes, I wanted my mother back. But I loved her. I wanted her out of Yeerk clutches. No matter what it meant.

"Don't tell the others."


	11. The Boy (Marco backstory)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1994...

The face that greeted him was a stranger's. "Uh…" Jake looked around to make sure he had the right house.

"Are you Marco's friend?"

"Yes?"

"Hi, come in," said the man, standing aside. "I'm Jerry. I'm a friend of Peter's. I'm just helping out around the house right now."

"Right." Jake stepped into the house. "Where's Marco?"

"He's in his room."

"Okay." Jake headed toward the stairs. With a last glance back at the strange mortal, he hurried up to Marco's room. At first, it seemed that Marco wasn't there, but then he heard the _doot-doot-doot_ of Marco's GameBoy.

Jake climbed over the bed, finding his friend sitting in the floor on the opposite side.

"Hey."

"Shut up."

"Look, Marco…"

"Shut up."

"I came to--"

" _Shut up._ "

"Are you crying?"

"No."

Jake crawled off the bed and onto the floor next to his friend. "Marco, maybe…" But he didn't really have anything to finish his statement with.

"Yeah, maybe." Marco let his head fall back against his bed. "All I have is a broken boat, a lot of blood, no body, and a whole bunch of maybe."

_Dootahludoot!_

Marco glanced down at the Game Boy. "My guy died."

"Should have saved I guess."

"Can't."

Jake leaned his head against Marco's.

"Don't tell anyone I cried, okay?"

Jake forced a smile. "Don't tell anyone I'm a vampire."

Marco snorted. "You're a weird guy."


End file.
